Darren.

Welcome aboard, Dustin!

Exactly my experience this year, too! I was going to ask here, glad PSN81 did. These bass have torn me up this year. But this is on my usual fishing reservoirs. Also, I caught one bass this summer that ate craws and spit it out when I caught 'im. Never seen that in all the years I've fished here... Usually it is shad in the gullet. 'Course I don't recall it their teeth were any lless sharp or not. I wonder, too, if there isn't a side effect to some of the treatments used to control various invasive species. Perhaps new blends of chemicals affect tooth growth? I've been on the water when the DGIF biologists came out and sprayed chemicals around the entire shoreline (in the water, of course).

Welcome aboard, DJSkeeter!

Joey, gaining confidence can be tough, but here's a tip I read (I think here, and I posted on my experiment, too). Take one bait with you. Just one. And fish it. For me, I experimented with a 4" BPS stick-o in color "Pepper Frog Hot Orange" - it's a laminate. I only took a bag with me and fished it wacky style. Boy did I find confidence in that bait. It is a major staple in what I throw today. Now I've tried other colors which did not turn out as successful. Confidence can be a mystical thing (at least how it's described by many). I'm not so sure your personal confidence is transmitted through your rod to the line down to the lure and ultimately weakening the fish to bite. Don't think it really works that way. Start with standard colors like watermelon (and variants), green pumpkin, black, etc. Start there and move on. Slow your TX rig down. Let your wacky rig marinate in the water for a while, or if you do that all the time, then change your retrieve. Write down what works (or make mental notes like I do) and what doesn't. A friend of mine swears by pink at one of the reservoirs we fish. Pink does absolutely nothing for me (although I've not taken *only* pink out and tried to gain confidence in it). But for him, pink catches bass. Confidence one person has in a bait won't necessarily translate to another person for the same bait.

Thanks. When I'm in the market for a new rod, I may take a long hard look at these. Will probably have to order straight from the maker as the links they supply either don't show any, or have only 2 models.

Those look great, Dave. Do you use these? And if so, how do they compare to rods like St. Croix, etc.

Longest I have fished in my kayak is 6'6" (not including when I target bream where I'll sometimes take long poles w/o reels up to 12' in length). Preference is to fish shorter rods. Favorite length is 5'9", but I go to 6'3" (which was used to catch the 6.6lber in my avatar last week). Lately I've been carrying 3 rods. 2 baitcasters and 1 spinning setup. Sometimes I'll take 1 rod, normally 2, but when I try new stuff, I take 3 or 4. Over three rods, though, tends to get messy and frustrating in my yak, so I try to take a "less-is-more" approach. I'm a shorter guy, and I fish out of a 12' boat. You learn to adjust when the fish make runs from one side around to the other. A longer rod is not necessarily an advantage there. It's all in how YOU make it work. 2 cents...

Welcome to the forums!

Welcome aboard, Jake!

Beautiful fish. But I bet that's a green screen behind you, and she came out of a tank! You just get too many of these lovely ladies. LOL Nice catch

Welcome aboard, Brian!

RW is right. I had similar questions when I joined; however, and RW's last paragraph hits the nail on the head, find what works for you. My experience with Floroclear differs from RW's, but he is not alone with breakage issues. I've just not had them. Perhaps it is my style of fishing, whatever, it works for me and that's great. I don't know of a single fishing product that gets perfect reviews from *everyone* that tries it. Now Yo-Zuri Hybrid works for me, too! I use it in 10 lb test as leader tied to braid. Which, I also use 99.9% of the time - braid mainline + leader, that is. Honestly, I've had more line-breakage issues with Hybrid than Floroclear, but that's me, and I continue to use both. I also continue to dabble in the pure fluorocarbon world, but am still learning how to fish the line. I find I can't fish it like a copoly, and if I snag it and pull too long to free the hook, I should probably change out the leader. Don't normally do that with the YZ or Floroclear. So your mileage may vary from others when it comes to lines you like and don't. Again to echo RW, "experiment".

Welcome aboard, Adam!

Well, I use 10 lb braid regularly with leaders from 8-15 lbs and rarely have failures. May I suggest doing a modified Albright where you wrap up 10 times and then back down 5-8 times before finishing the knot. Cinch it down slowly and see how it goes. If that fails, try a simple uni to uni knot. I use it when I'm in a hurry, or in the mood for a change up from the Albright. Used it with 10lb PP + 10lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid leader when I caught the 6.6 lber in my avatar last Saturday.

Hard to argue with that. Walmarts are almost everywhere...

Welcome aboard, Ryan!

Welcome aboard, David!

That's awesome!

Welcome aboard, Li!

Let me also point you to this web site which has less expensive versions of Tenkara rods: allfishingbuy.com (I've bought from them in the past). http://www.allfishingbuy.com/Tenkara-Rods.htm They are a distributor for Japanese manufacturers. Purchased a graphite long-pole from them as well as several floats. Nice folks to deal with in my experience.

Right here: http://www.tenkarausa.com/index.php Don't have one, but am fascinated by the concept. Personally I can't stand "normal" fly fishing. But this looks fun.

That's a good point about the weight. My U12 is 55lbs. Easy to hoist car top. Now that I have a Tundra, it's even easier to load up. And I even lift it with all my gear aboard, including MinnKota Endura 30 trolling motor. Usually take the 56lb battery out. Oi.

Actually, I have a Native Ultimate 12 - also a hybrid. You can look at my model (or the 14 depending on what size you're looking for), and the Wilderness Systems Commander models. This is a personal decision only you can make. In other words, I strongly urge you to find local shops where you can sit in the respective kayaks, and/or demo them on the water. I say this because what works for me may not work for you. Thus a personal decision. I preferred the Native Ultimate's interior and such over the Commander. But you may feel opposite. NuCanoe has a fine reputation and certainly worthy of consideration. The only "downfall" I see in hybrids is the lack of scupper holes for drainage. So I don't usually take my U12 out on large bodies of water, although I do plan on some York River (brackish) fishing in the future, but will remain close to shore to avoid the big water.

That's an awesome thing with kayaks - at some launches. Put in almost anywhere for little to no money. I pay $40/year for my 2 local reservoirs ($40 total for both) to secure a launch permit. Then there's the $25/year shoreline permit (so I can fish shorelines and docks with my boys if we aren't kayaking).

Sounds great to me. I think you'll love it. Demo models are fine, perhaps more gently used than otherwise. Welcome to the kayak club!